- Vision
- Play Ball! Start by throwing a large ball to and from your child, and progress to smaller balls as able.
- When playing board games, present cards high, low, left, and right to encourage looking and reaching.
- Using Easels and LARGE paper/posters, create a connect the dot picture or place a vertical column of stickers/images on the right and left sides of the page. Have your child draw a line left to right connecting the two matching pictures.
- Vestibular
- Flip over a yoga ball or off the couch (if your house rules allow) into a pile of cushions to collect toys.
- Upside down Bowling: Spread your legs wide, look through your legs, and roll a ball to each other.
- Chores and morning routine: log roll, spin, sommersault, or frog jump to different parts of the room to gather clothes, put away toys, or get ready for school.
- Proprioception: Body Scheme/Body Awareness
- Body Matching Game: “Touch your elbow to your knee”, “Touch your nose to your thumb.” Take it up a notch by matching body parts with objects, or adding body part movements.
- Rough and Tumble Play: The more crashing and crawling the better!
- Body Wake Up: Before a time when you’d like your child to be alert and paying attention, have them squeeze their fists and shake their head quickly for 30 seconds, then give themselves a big bear hug. (Shared with permission from the Body Activated Learning Handbook).
- Tactile
- Get Messy! Any kind of wet, sticky, messy play encouraged! Once your child is playing in a variety of materials, step it up by hiding objects in them for them to find (shapes, letters, numbers, etc…)
- Cook! Rolling out dough and holding a bowl while mixing help develop your child’s ability to use both hands together. Use a variety of foods and textures. Check out our Pinterest page for fun food art ideas!
- Using Vision to Guide the Body
- Watching Windmills: Standing with legs apart, have your child reach across their body with their right hand to touch their left toes and back up watching their hand the entire time. *** Making sure your child looks at his/her hand is critical to link vision with body movements. Repeat with the opposite side. Start with a few repetitions and build up as able without losing balance or becoming dizzy.
- Yoga ball sit-ups: Lay down over the ball, reaching backward for a crayon, puzzle piece, or toy. Then sit up and throw the toy at a target or reach to place the crayon/puzzle piece in a bucket.
Contributed by: Amanda Michel, MLD, OTR/L, Cassandra Andrade-Domeika MS, OTR/L, Karen Basset, MS, OTR/L, Aubrey Schmalle, OTR/L, SIPT
